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I've heard this twice in the last two day - mushrooms are bad for you - when I asked them how - they responded - They just are - and when I tried to prove them that they really weren't through the use of erowid they wouldn't take it cause it was a drug-site and drugs are bad - kudos on spawning such strong ignorance whomever it may concern.

On a sidenot i'de like to ask if like a lot of other mushrooms if they have anti-cancer properties....when someone says - Mushrooms are bad - i'de just love to truthfully respond - No they aren't, they prevent cancer...

Quote:Psilocybin and psilocin are closely related to the neurotransmitter serotonin. Psilocin, especially, is structurally related to a neurotransmitter serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine or 5-HT) (Vollenweider 1998). The structural resemblance to serotonin also parallels with psilocybin's activity. The primary effect of psilocybin seems to be the inhibition of the neurotransmitter serotonin, because the indole binds to 5-HT receptors. More specifically, the effect of psilocybin is to act as an agonist to the 5-HT2 receptor.

inhibition - something that restrains, blocks, or suppresses.

Chances are, there is a lack of serotonin in the brain when an individual is coming down from mushrooms.

Quote:Darcho said:Maybe serotonin stops being produced, because of the inhibition? I am not a neuroscientist, so I don't really know. I was just speculating with the information I found.

I actaully read, in a scientiffic medical journal, that with the use of tryptamines, serotonin levels are actually 5 to 6 times higher then if one wasn't on a tryptamine. The article went on to say that since the receptors are being occupied by the tryptamines, that serotonin is caused to build up. Then, once the tryptamines begin to be metablolized, the serotonin is also matablolized with them causing the serotonin levels to temporarly to crash. The pre-synaptic terminal then tries to conpensate for the crash by over producing serotonin, rasing levels back to somewhere around 3 times the normal level. The excess serotonin is then metabolize again and once again there is a drop in serotonin levels. So the whole process is sort of like a scale trying to balance itself out. Eventually the scale will balance and serotonin homeostasis will be sustained somewhere between 4 - 10 hours after the matabolism of the tryptamines. This is a means to explain the sometimes drastic changes in mood, emotion, sleep[lessness] and appetite after one has come down from a trip.

I really wish I could find this particular article and post for all of you. I tried many times to locate it but my search has always came to a dead end. I stumbled across it doing graduate research and I don't know if I'll ever be lucky enough to find it again. If I do, this will be the first place I post it.

ANNO- Prozac is a serotonin re-uptake inhibitor. Some drugs work that way- inhibit re-uptake so serotonin stays in the system. Other drugs work by increasing the amount of serotonin in your system. And yet other drugs work by preventing the release of serotonin. Psilocybin is one of the latter types of drugs. If you look at the chemical structure of serotonin, you'll see that it is very similar to psilocybin. Psilocybin prevents the release of serotonin from certain neurons in the brain. The receptors that are used to picking up serotonin don't get any, and they get all excited. The result of this is a trip. So, serotonin is decreased, not increased.

"Psilocybin and psilocin are closely related to the neurotransmitter serotonin. Psilocin, especially, is structurally related to a neurotransmitter serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine or 5-HT) (Vollenweider 1998). The structural resemblance to serotonin also parallels with psilocybin's activity. The primary effect of psilocybin seems to be the inhibition of the neurotransmitter serotonin, because the indole binds to 5-HT receptors. More specifically, the effect of psilocybin is to act as an agonist to the 5-HT2 receptor. The potency of the hallucinogens in humans is related to the binding affinity for the 5-HT2 receptor in animals. In addition, animal studies have demonstrated that the action of the hallucinogenic drug can be blocked by 5-HT2 antagonists, thus supporting psilocybin as a 5-HT analog (Vollenweider 1998)."

The structural similarity of psilocybin (and psilocin) keeps the neurons from releasing serotonin because they believe it is in the system and there's no need to release it. The psilocin acts on the receptors and really fucks with them, and in turn with you. I haven't read that article but will have to take a gander. Thanks, because I could certainly be wrong, and that wouldn't be the second time. Anyhow, about rat studies:

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND?Nearly 700 scientists representing 27 countries convened at the University of Zurich today to formally announce that their experimentation on mice has been motivated not by a desire to advance human knowledge, but out of sheer distaste for the furry little rodents.

Above: White examines detested specimens in his Oxford lab. "As a man of science, I deal with facts, and the fact is that mice are gross," said Dr. Douglas White, chair of the Oxford biogenetics department and lifelong mouse-hater. "They're squirmy, scurrying little vermin, and they make my skin crawl. I speak for all of my assembled colleagues when I say that the horrible little things deserve the worst we can dish out."

At the press conference, several scientists detailed their involvement in the centuries-long ruse of "conducting experiments" and "curing diseases."

"For years, I've used lab mice to research cell breakdown in living tissue?and I've been lucky enough to make some pretty important medical advancements along the way," said researcher Ellen Gresham of the Harvard Institute for Advanced Studies. "But even if there were no scientific benefit to the work I do, I'd still experiment on mice, just to watch them suffer."

"The truth is, mice are particularly ill-suited for our tissue study," Gresham added. "We could construct a computer model that would yield more accurate results, but we don't care."

According to Gresham, scientists have enjoyed dissolving mice in acid, spinning them in centrifuges, blowing them up in vacuum chambers, and forcing them to navigate exit-free mazes for years?all the while towering above them, laughing.

"Every high-pitched squeak from the holding area is a warm reminder that the mice desperately want to escape," said Dr. Frances Villalobos, a contagious-disease researcher at the University of Mexico. "All they want to do is get out from behind those bars so they can chew on everything, defecate all over, and poke their filthy twitching faces into piles of garbage. Well, I know of at least 80 little test subjects who won't be doing any more of that. They're headed straight for the dissection lab."

Above: A University of Miami researcher injects dye into a mouse's eyeball "for the heck of it." Villalobos said he spent six months writing a grant proposal that provided him with funding to inject mice with the smallpox virus.

"It kills me that I can't infect the control group," Villalobos said. "Unfortunately, if I infect them, I'll throw off my results. But once I complete this experiment, I'll rotate the control group into the hot seat. Don't you worry. They'll get what's coming to them."

After applauding the scientists for coming forward, anthropologist Brent Wrigley suggested that the hatred of mice may be the single most important factor in the evolution of modern science.

"Despising mice may have pushed humanity out of the Stone Age," Wrigley said. "After all, the cave habitats of early man must have been infested with the horrific little monsters. The entire history of human advancement via the scientific method may be a byproduct of the higher forebrain's natural revulsion toward the nasty critters."

Mouse-killing isn't solely the province of organic and medical scientists. Many other scientists kill mice, as well.

"As a physicist, I don't really have much cause to use mice in my regular research, which mostly requires the use of theoretical math," said Dr. Thomas Huber, author of the 1996 study Mouse Elasticity And Kinetic Rebound In High-Acceleration Collisions. "But when I have the time, I like to send them flying into walls. Even just seeing them in a cage makes me feel kind of good inside. I like knowing I'm depriving them of their freedom, even if my research doesn't provide me the opportunity to cut them open."

"More specifically, the effect of psilocybin is to act as an agonist to the 5-HT2 receptor."

This is almost true. Psilocybin must first be converted into psilocin in the body before it becomes psychoactive; I believe this happens in the liver. It is psilocin which is the 5-HT2 agonist. What this means is that it binds to the receptor that serotonin usually binds to, but it's not an exact fit. This causes the neuron to fire in a different manor than it would if a serotonin molecule were bound into that receptor. This is what causes the trip.

As djd586 noted, when the serotonin receptors are blocked with psilocin serotonin builds up in the synapses because it has no place to dock, the body tries to stabilize, and this results in the pendulum effect. Not until all the psilocin is removed can a balance be reestablished.

If there are others like myself who have been foolish enough to abuse mushrooms by eating them several days in a row, they will know what this fells like, most unpleasant.

Like all things, mushrooms are good. Like all things, they should be used properly, and in moderation, for some people this means not at all. Just remember to respect the mushroom, its not a drug which tollerates abuse.

I don't know about cancer, but it cures cluster headaches, and it can cure a variety of mental illness including but not limited too; OCD, depression, drug addiction, and PTSS.....and i'm sure that's just the beginning.

"Mushrooms are bad for you" I get that every fuckin day and when I ask why all these stupid pricks can say is "they make you stupid" or "they kill braincells" taking a shit these days kills braincells I think its worth killing a few braincells to have a crazy ass trip like on mushrooms. My opinion is people who say that just cant handle mushrooms and they are so pussy they cant admit it so they just say "mushrooms are bad"

--------------------Mother goose said to the swan "Is that PCP your cooking?" and the swan replied "Yes, yes it is.